Bedding. 600 or 200 thread count?

I was thinking about buying some nice bedding a whiel back but i never got around to it. The new place I'm moving in to on saturday is a beautifully finished (brand new) studio apartment. It's not too small, however, it is a studio. For those that don't know that means that everythign is in the same rectangular room. This means that no matter how well i divide the space, I want the bed to look good in the space. Just to give you an idea, the apartment is in an older building that was gutted from within and completely renovated. It's got a marble fireplace, beautiful wood floors (they're a creamy color), and the kitchen is all brand new with tiled floors. I'm aiming for simple elegance. That being said, I need to decide on 200, 300 or 600 (those are the offerings on bluefly) thread count. The 200 and 600 are both from Frette and the 300 is Bellino (which i've never heard of, but then I don't read decorating/home magazines either). The snob in me says to get the 600tc Frette sheets. Is it worth the premium? I've got some high thread count shirts, but obviously they're nowhere near 600, and the weave is probaly different anyway. If i knew of a high end store for things like this I'd go feel the difference for myself, but I don't. Any opinions here? I'm also wondering how big the mark-up on frette is. Are bellino sheets bascially just as good as frette, but not as well known and hence much less expensive? Or is frette siginificantly better quality? Any comments on one vs. the other?

thought i'd follow this up for anyone that's interested. I found a place in montreal that carries frette and a bunch of other nice stuff. There's no comparison between 200 (they only carried the hotel collection, which is 200tc) and 600, 600 is so much softer. I also saw some 1020 tc, but it was 4 ply, so it wasn't really any softer, however it was a thicker, crispier sheet. I was gonna buy stuff off bluefly, but i think it's a really bad idea. Even among similar threadcounts, sheets can feel completely different (in terms of softness) and you can't feel the texture. It's much better to find a local store that carries high end stuff. The name of the store is decor Marie-Paul for any montrealers that might be interested. It's 4918 sherbrooke w., in westmount.

Yep. The markup on frette is insane. Unless you want something that you can only get from frette, or have tons of cash burning a hole in your pocket, I'd suggest finding something else. Buying on bluefly or ebay just cause "it's frette", is stuipd. If i were to go with frette i'd pay the same for their 200 thread count sheets as I'm going to pay for 600 tc sheets from someone else (i think they might have been st. geneve). Oh and about the egyptian cottont thing.. Pima cotton is basically the same thing, the only differences are the location it's grown and a lower price premium.